The Rest Of Us Just Live Here

The Rest Of Us Just LiveHere by Patrick Ness, 317 pages

This book was an odd combination of realistic fiction and fantasy.  Most of the book is about this group of friends, with regular problems.  This is told from the perspective of Mike.  He and his sister, Mel, have both had some problems since their mother's big campaign for lieutenant governor.  Mel developed an eating disorder and nearly died while Mike developed a severe problem with OCD.  Mike is hopelessly in love with another friend, Henna, whose dad is a preacher and whose mom is a podiatrist and who plan to take her on a mission to Africa for the summer right after graduation.  Mike's best friend, Jared, is gay.  He's also part god.  And this is where some of the fantasy creeps in.  Every few years something bizarre and strange happens in their town that the adults never acknowledge but the teens all know is supernatural.  The group they call the Indie kids are always at the heart of it and at the beginning of each chapter we get a synopsis of what's happening with that story.  Jared being part god is part of one of those strange occurrences.  This might be my favorite book by Ness so far and I've liked all of them pretty well.  Something about the mix really appealed to me and he really made me care about these characters.  I would highly recommend this for almost any teen, but definitely for fans of realistic fiction and fantasy.